Question

Xander drew a diagram of a candle and its reflection in a mirror as shown below.

A candle sits to the right of a concave mirror. A black line from the base of the candle to the mirror has a point between the mirror and the candle with a dot labeled Focal Point. A purple arrow runs straight from the tip of the candle flame, reflects off the mirror and continues down and left through the focal point. A green arrow runs down and left to the lower part of the mirror through the focal point, reflects off the mirror and runs left parallel with and below the black line. A small image of the mirror with its base on the black line and the tip of the flame below the black line sits to the left of the focal point and to the right of the candle itself.

How should Xander describe the reflection?

The reflection of the candle in the concave mirror formed an upside-down real image that is smaller than the candle.
The reflection of the candle in the convex mirror formed an upside-down real image that is smaller than the candle.
The reflection of the candle in the concave mirror formed an upside-down virtual image that is smaller than the candle.
The reflection of the candle in the convex mirror formed an upside-down virtual image that is smaller than the candle.

Answer 1

The first statement is correct.

Reason: the rays follow the rules for a concave mirror (a ray parallel to the axis reflects through the focal point, and a ray through the focal point reflects parallel). The reflected rays actually meet, so the image is real and formed by converging rays. The image is inverted (upside-down) and, from the diagram, smaller than the object.